Improvement in manufacture of hoes



' UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

ANDRENV PATTERSON, OF BIRMINGHAM, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT lN MANUFACTURE OF HOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 49,649, dated August29, 1865.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, ANDREW PATTERSON, of the borough ofBirmingham,Allegheny county, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in the Manufacture of Hoes; and I hereby declarethat the` following is a full and exact description o f the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part ofthis specification, and to the letters of explanation marked thereon.

Planters hoes have heretofore been made by various processes, as byhand-forgin g 5 by having the separately-formed eye attached to theblade by riveting` or welding; by having the eye cast on a preparedblade; by having the entire hoe formed by casting of malleable iron byhaving the eye or shank attached to the blade by screw-nuts, or bywedges or keys, and perhaps otherwise.

Iform my hoe by a process dierin g from all these and, as I believe,from all other processes ever used before in making hoes.

My invention consists in making the entire hoe from a single piece ofsheet-steel by raising or drawing the eye from the substance of thesheet of whichthe blade is formed by the gradual action of a series ofproperly-shaped dies.

The general principles of the operation are old and well understood byworkers in sheet metal, and are illustrated in the usual mode of makingspoons, dishes, basins, kettles, &c., by the process called starnping7In the manufacture of hoes by this process I take a plate of steel ofthe thickness and general shape of the intended hoe, and having made asmall hole-say about one-fourth the diameterof the intended eyethroughthe plate at the place where the center of the eye is to be formed, Ithen heat the plate to about a cherryred heat, and under the pressure ofa percussion or drop press I subject the plate to the action of a pairof round dies, which stretch and raise that part of which the eye is tobe formed and some of the surrounding metal as high above the generalsurface of the plate as can be done without too violently straining theber of the steel. I then reheat and pass the partly formed hoe throughanother pair of similar dies,which further raise the prospective eye,and repeat the operation until the elevation is about as high above thegeneral surface as it is intended to have the eye when finished. At thisstage of the operation the small hole in the plate has been considerablyenlarged and the circular elevation has had anincreased surfacedeveloped, which is nearly sufiicient to form the eye without anyfurther stretching. This is accomplished (the formation of the eye) bythe action of a series of dies, which gradually narrow the base, withoutreducing the height of the elevation produced by the first series ofdies, until the hole first made has been drawn out to the full size ofeye and the proper draft ot' eye has been obtained. An advantage of thisplan of stretching and then com pressing the part of which the eye isformed is that a more uniform and greater thickness of metal in the eyeis obtained than would be by operating otherwise.

Figures I, 2, and 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are sectional views of a series ofdies which, with good steel, will succeed well; yet I do not confinemyself to these precise shapes of dies, for they may be much modifiedinrelation to each other, and doubtless with advantage in their adaptation to different qualities or thicknesses of steel or to differentsizes or forms of eye de sired. Such modifications will readily suggestthemselves to the intelligent mechanic. (tot a a a a a indicates thefemale, and b b b b b b b the male dies. c indicates the position of theplate (shown by the short oblique lines) be tween the dies afterit hasreceived each stroke.

Fig. 8 is plate before it has been impressed with any of the dies.

Fig. 9 is a hoe when finally shaped by the last pair of dies. It doesnot differ materially in appearance from a forged hoe, and may have theproper set given to it in the lastpair of dies, or by heating andbending, as is done with forged hoes. It should be finally iinished bygrinding,tempering, and polishing, as are other hoes.

The advantages of my improvement are, chiefly, that by it, withoutskilled labor, a neater, lighter, stronger, and more durable hoe can bemade at less cost than by any other process now known.

Having thus described my improvement, I claim as my invention-f- Theimprovement in the manufacture of hoes herein described-that is to say7forming the eye and the blade of one sheet of metal previously rolled tothe thickness ofthe intended blade, the eye being formed by the gradualaction of a series of dies so operating on the substance of the saidsheet of metal as to compress into the body ofthe eye a greater quantityof metal than previously lay Within its cireumference, the completehoebeingthus formed Without further forging, substantially as describedand set forth.

ANDREW PATTERSON. Witnesses:

A. B. STEVENSON, E. G. KREHAN.

